Rhynchotus fasciatus. Spix, Av. Br. pl. 76.
Cryptura Guaza. Vieill.
Crypturus rufescens. Licht. Vög. Verz. s. 67.
My specimens were procured at Maldonado, where it is a much rarer bird than the Nothura major; I met with it also in the sterile country near Bahia Blanca. At Maldonado it frequented swampy thickets on the borders of lakes. It lies very close, and is unwilling to rise, but often utters, whilst on the ground, a very shrill whistle. When on the wing, it flies to a considerable distance. Several are generally found together, but they do not rise at the same instant, like a covey of partridges. Flesh, when cooked, perfectly white. Spix’s specimens were procured in the country between St. Paul’s and Minas Geraes; so that this bird, as well as the Nothura minor, has a considerable range.
Order—CURSORES. Temm.
1. Rhea Americana. Lath.
This bird is well known to abound on the plains of La Plata. To the north it is found, according to Azara, in Paraguay, where, however, it is not common; to the south its limit appears to be from 42° to 43°. It has not crossed the Cordillera; but I have seen it within the first range of mountains on the Uspallata plain, elevated between six and seven thousand feet. The ordinary habits of the ostrich are well known. They feed on vegetable matter, such as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca, I have repeatedly seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive mud-banks which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of catching small fish. Although the ostrich in its habits is so shy, wary, and solitary, and although so fleet in its pace, it falls a prey, without much difficulty, to the Indian or Gaucho armed with the bolas. When several horsemen appear in a semicircle, it becomes confounded, and does not know which way to escape. They generally prefer running against the wind; yet at the first start they expand their wings, and like a vessel make all sail. On one fine hot day I saw several ostriches enter a bed of tall rushes, where they squatted concealed, till quite closely approached. It is not generally known that ostriches readily take to the water. Mr. King informs me that in Patagonia, at the Bay of San Blas and at Port Valdes, he saw these birds swimming several times from island to island. They ran into the water, both when driven down to a point, and likewise of their own accord, when not frightened: the distance crossed was about 200 yards. When swimming, very little of their bodies appear above water, and their necks are extended a little forward: their progress is slow. On two occasions, I saw some ostriches swimming across the Santa Cruz river, where it was about four hundred yards wide, and the stream rapid. Captain Sturt,[[24]] when descending the Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw two emus in the act of swimming.
The inhabitants who live in the country readily distinguish, even at a distance, the male bird from the female. The former is larger and darker coloured,[[25]] and has a larger head. The ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned, hissing note. When first I heard it, standing in the midst of some sand-hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell whence it comes, or from how far distant. When we were at Bahia Blanca in the months of September and October, the eggs were found, in extraordinary numbers, all over the country. They either lie scattered single, in which case they are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards, huachos, or they are collected together into a shallow excavation, which forms the nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In one day’s hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found; forty-four of these were in two nests, and the remaining twenty scattered huachos. The Gauchos unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock when on the nest lies very close; I have myself almost ridden over one. It is asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, and even dangerous, and that they have been known to attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on him. My informer pointed out to me an old man, whom he had seen much terrified by one chasing him. I observe, in Burchell’s Travels in South Africa, that he remarks, “having killed a male ostrich, and the feathers being dirty, it was said by the Hottentots to be a nest bird.” I understand that the male emu, in the Zoological Gardens, takes care of the nest: this habit therefore is common to the family.[[26]]
The Gauchos unanimously affirm that several females lay in one nest. I have been positively told, that four or five hen birds have been actually watched and seen to go, in the middle of the day, one after the other, to the same nest. I may add, also, that it is believed in Africa, that two or more females lay in one nest.[[27]] Although this habit at first appears very strange, I think the cause may be explained in a simple manner. The number of eggs in the nest varies from twenty to forty, and even to fifty; and according to Azara to seventy or eighty. Now although it is most probable, from the number of eggs found in one district being so extraordinarily great, in proportion to that of the parent birds, and likewise from the state of the ovarium of the hen, that she may in the course of the season lay a large number, yet the time required must be very long. Azara states,[[28]] that a female in a state of domestication laid seventeen eggs, each at the interval of three days one from another. If the hen were obliged to hatch her own eggs, before the last was laid, the first probably would be addled; but if each laid a few eggs at successive periods, in different nests, and several hens, as is stated to be the case, combined together, then the eggs in one collection would be nearly of the same age. If the number of eggs in one of these nests is, as I believe, not greater on an average than the number laid by one female in the season, then there must be as many nests as females, and each cock bird will have its fair share of the labour of incubation; and this during a period when the females probably could not sit, on account of not having finished laying.[[29]] I have before mentioned the great numbers of huachos, or scattered eggs; so that in one day’s hunting the third part found were in this state. It appears odd that so many should be wasted. Does it not arise from some difficulty in several females associating together, and in finding a male ready to undertake the office of incubation? It is evident that there must at first be some degree of association, between at least two females; otherwise the eggs would remain scattered at distances far too great to allow of the male collecting them into one nest. Some authors believe that the scattered eggs are deposited for the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case in America, because the huachos, although often found addled and putrid, are generally whole.
